Guard for infants



(Nd-Model.)

A. E. LANE. GUARD FOR INFANTS.

Patented A r; 30. 1889..

,ISO

UNITED 1 STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR E. LANE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

GUARD FOR INFANTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 402,334, dated April30, 1889. Application filed December 7, 1838. Serial No. 292,916. (Nomodel.)

To all whom, itmay concern.-

Be it known that I, ARTHUR ELANE, of Chicago, in the county of Cook andState of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inGuards for Infants; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon,which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to a portable guard orinclosure for babies bywhich they may be placed in any room or part of a room and preventedfrom reaching the fire or other part of or object in the room which theymight harm or from which they might be harmed, while at the same timeaffording the child ample room for play.

I The invention consists, essentially, in arail so constructed as toform a complete inclosure of suitable size to allow a babe to freelyplay upon the floor within the same,'and of suitable height to confineit.

It further consists in making the rail with joints or connections at theangles, by which it may be folded together, so as to occupy small spacewhen out of use.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a baby-guardembodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of one cornerthereof, showing the detachable ends of two of the sections. Fig. 3 is aside elevation,

partly in section, showing the hinged ends of two of the sections. Figs.4 and 5 are respectively plan views of Figs. 2 and 3.

Referring to the drawings, A A are sections of a railing, each sectionbeing desirably about four, five, or six feet long, and in theneighborhood of twenty inches high. Each section A is shown ofopen-work, and is composed of a wooden top rail, a, and a bottom rail,I), joined by vertical slats or spindles 0, set at a suitable distanceapart to allow them to be separately seized by the child to assist it inrising from a sitting to a standing position. Of course the slats willserve the same purpose if made horizontal, and open wire work instead ofwood will equally afford a hold for the childs hands; also, as shown inthe drawings, the railing is connected in pairs of sections hingedtogether, adapted to be spread apart far enough to form a right angle,the ends of the sections at right angles with each other when the sameare spread apart. The free ends of the sections in one pair aredetachably connected with the corresponding ends l of the other pair byhooks or other appropriate fastening devices. This enables the railingto be taken down and folded into two parts, which are light enough to beeasily taken from one room to another and set up for use.

Desirably the bottom rail, 7), rests directly upon the floor, for thereason that it will then prevent the childs playthings from being pushedoutside the inclosure; buta variation from this or from other details ofconstruction as shown in the drawings will not constitute a departurefrom my invention.

It has been found that an inclosure of the character described not onlygives a child am ple room for play and exercise from creeping, but thatit also greatly assists in the physical development of the child byaffording in the rail an object which it may seize and aready means bywhich it may raise itself to an upright position and aid itself in itsefforts to walk. Besides these advantages it manifestly furnishesperfect security against personal injury, as well as a protection toarticles of furniture, and in these particulars it affords most valuablerelief and aid to those having careof the child.

A great advantage is obtained by making the railing of four sectionshinged together in pairs, for the reason that this construction enablesthe railings to be unfolded and set up Within the space not materiallylarger than the area inclosed by the railing, while at the same timeeach half of the railing is of a size and weight enabling it to beconveniently handled. It will be readily seen that if all four sectionsof the railing were permanently hinged together, not only would thestructure be too heavy for convenient handling for per sons about ahouse, but the folding and unfolding of the hinged parts could only beac complished in a space much larger than that occupied by the railingwhen in position for use. The railing connected as herein described andclaimed can be easily erected in such space as will commonly be affordedwithin a room without moving or shifting the rails A and B beingprovided with oblique I faces which come in contact, so as to hold thevfurniture therein, while in case all the sections of the railing werepermanently hinged together a much larger space would be required inwhich to swing the sections about their hinged connections in bringingthe railing into rectangular form, so that not only would the shiftingof the furniture in rooms of ordinary size be required in the use ofsuch construction, but in some apartments the size of the same and thedisposition of the furnitnre therein would make-it impossibleto unfoldthe railing without holding the same upright, or other diflicult ortroublesome manipulat-ionr I claim as my invention- The portablebaby-guard described, consisting of a failing forming a completeinclosure and composed of four sections hinged together ARTHUR E. LANE.

Witnesses:

TAYLOR E. BROWN, M. E. DAYTON.

